1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a baker's peel and particularly to a pizza peel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional baker's peels are basically large wooden spatulas with a flat plate. The bakery product or pizza is placed on the plate and pushed into the oven cavity for cooking. Very often the dough sticks to the support surface of the wooden peel. It is then necessary to peel the dough from the peel with an additional utensil or, as often observed in pizzerias, the pizza cook slightly lifts the pizza dough from the peel and blows under it. Another disadvantage of the prior art wooden peel is its tendency to warp when it is exposed to extreme heat for too long or when it is soaked for too long in a cleaning solution. As the conventional wooden peels are quite expensive, it adds to a considerable loss when the warped peel must be thrown away.
A recent advance in the art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,384 to Baker. The patent discloses a metal plate with a wooden handle. The metal plate provided by Baker provides a number of advantages over the prior art, as for instance improved warp-resistance and easier handling in terms of sanitary requirements. The Baker plate, however, is not improved with respect to the tendency of the dough to stick to the support surface. Additionally, it has been found in recent studies that the biological retention capacity of wood, i.e. the likelihood that germs will be retained and bacteria will grow in wooden plates, is considerably lower than with metal utensils.